[Feature Request / Discussion] Add Turn Anticipation & Fly-By Waypoints for More Realistic Navigation

[Yurei]

Hey everyone,

I’d like to bring up an issue that’s been bothering me — and many others — for quite a while: the lack of turn anticipation and fly-by waypoint behavior in Infinite Flight’s autopilot navigation system.

What’s the Problem?

Currently, when flying on autopilot in Infinite Flight, the aircraft tends to make very sharp, unrealistic 90-degree turns at waypoints. Instead of flying a smooth arc between waypoints (like real aircraft do), the sim flies directly to the waypoint and then turns sharply — causing the flight path to look like an “L” instead of a curve.

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How It Works in Real Life (CMIIW)

In actual commercial aviation, FMS (Flight Management Systems) are designed to calculate anticipation turns automatically. This means aircraft begin turning before reaching the waypoint, forming a smooth curve (called fly-by) to stay precisely on course.

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Why This Matters?:
• Realism: Infinite Flight aims to be a professional-grade mobile flight sim. Having realistic navigation behavior is part of that.
• Accuracy: Sharp turns at waypoints break immersion and can cause the aircraft to deviate from its intended path.

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Suggested Improvement
• Implement turn anticipation logic for autopilot to initiate smooth turns before reaching a waypoint.
• Use fly-by waypoint behavior instead of current fly-over style.
• Improve lateral navigation so the aircraft can follow the magenta line accurately, without overshooting or zig-zagging between waypoints.

Final Note

It’s time to finally improve the core autopilot navigation and make Infinite Flight fly like the real thing.

Good day!

[Petre2026]

Hey there! Welcome to the community! This kind of post belongs in the Features category, and yes, you need to be TL2 in order to post there, so just interact and like posts and comment on threads and you’ll level up in no time! This is also a duplicate of another topic. In the future, do a quick search for your topic, especially utilizing the AI search function as that will help you locate any previous topics!

Here are a couple different ones:

Dynamic bank angle

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Smooth Autopilot Transitions

I’ve realized that in Infinite Flight, the Autopilot can be very sensitive. I’ve flown a few simulators (including motion simulators), and when you change the Autopilot, it gradually transitions to what you asked for. In Infinite Flight, if you’re at 2,000 feet and you set that Autopilot to 1,000 feet and 2,000 V/S, you’d take a dive automatically, when that doesn’t happen in real life. I am just asking for it to be a smooth transition. I’ve also realized problems with the Auto heading. If you…

This last one here especially captures what you are trying to say. I suggest putting your post in that thread!

We need to rethink the 'Infinite Flight autopilot'

Hey everyone! Of all my years playing IF, I’ve had very few suggestions - This app is truly amazing! Today would be the first time in about 7 years of playing IF where I’ve come up with a feature request. This topic is about the ‘Infinite Flight Autopilot’ …And these are my thoughts on where and how the autopilot can be improved. Before I go any futher: I understand that there are limitations to what the developers are able to do… The user experience must be considered based on who is usin…